The over year long tenure of Gen Dhillon, witnessed a large number of major events like abrogation of Article 370 and Pulwama IED incident. “He can be credited for conceptualizing, initiating and re-establishing the much needed Army-Civil synergy with renewed vigor and pragmatism,” Arm,y said in a statement here.

It said his constant focus on operational preparedness and developmental initiative “saw the unravelling of JeM network and elimination of the perpetrators of the Pulwama incident in less than 100 hours of the attack along with neutralization of a number of terrorist leaders. Swift and robust punitive response of the ceasefire violations and targeting of terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LC), contributed significantly in maintaining peace in the Valley, especially post 05 August 2019,” the statement said.

It said engagement with public, especially the youth, remained a key focus area for Gen Dhillon. “Well-being of the ‘Awaam’ (public) was always close to his heart. He gave impetus under the ‘Taleem Se Taraqqi’ (development through education) initiative to improve the education infrastructure, coaching facilities, skill development, sports, youth and women empowerment. Super-50 (Engineering) and Super-30 (Medical), have yielded spectacular results, and have been very effective in transforming many industrious aspirants.”

The General’s outreach to engage the mothers via “Operation MAA” resulted in the “return of many youth to their families after abandoning terrorism. He reached out to the civil population in far flung areas, referring to them as ‘Humsayas’- the extended family, and launched ‘Khariyat’ patrols to extend humanitarian assistance to people in remote mountainous regions,” the statement said.

“Encouraging support of the people saw near 100 percent participation in the democratic processes as well as the board exams,” the statement added.

In his farewell message, Gen Dhillon complimented all ranks of Chinar Corps for their dedication and thanked JKP, CAPFs, Civil administration and the general public for their support and conveyed his greetings and best wishes to the people of Kashmir and the entire Chinar Corps fraternity, the army press release said.

Kashmir Images is an English language daily newspaper published from Srinagar (J&K), India. The newspaper is one of the largest circulated English dailies of Kashmir and its hard copies reach every nook and corner of Kashmir Valley besides Jammu and Ladakh region.